Apple Picking with Doug and Morna

It was an absolutely beautiful Fall day today and we went with Morna and Doug to a local farm in Maryland to pick apples. Jennifer enjoyed it and we got some good photos.

J.

Jennifer, Katie, and Caitlin B-Day Get Together

We all got together yesterday (Saturday) at the Sullivan's house to celebrate the first birthdays of the three girls. It's the first time we have all gotten together since we got back from China. It was a lot of fun and everyone is doing great. Here are the photos from the party. In particular, I like the one of the three girls in their birthday hats (reminds me of the Red Couch Photo Shoot in Guangzhou, China). Notice that Jennifer was crying - was not too pleased about the party hat and having to sit still for the photo!

J.

Jennifer Rose Turns One!

Here J Ro is playing with her cake. She had fun
playing with the frosting.

Yesterday (September 25th) was Jennifer Rose's first birthday. We celebrated with a family dinner at Chef Geoff's and had a really nice time. I have attached some photos. J Ro was just so cute and beautiful and she continues to light up our lives.

J.

A Few Other Good Photos

As I was getting ready to shut down the computer tonight, R came in and said she wanted to look at the photos. She found a few she really liked that I have posted. I believe these are from the day that Andrew and Michelle visited with Hannah. Enjoy!

J.

A Beautiful Fall Day

It was a perfect Fall day on Sunday. We started out the day with swimming class. As you can see from the photos below, J Ro liked her floating plastic dolphin. After class, R put J Ro in a big pink velour sweatsuit (see photo). We had a nice family day -- including afternoon coffee with Grandma Thedie andGrandpa Oskie at Leopolds in Georgetown. That's it for now.

We wanted to give a shout out to Lee for continuing to check the blog even though we have been bad about posting to it. We'll try to be better going forward.

J.

J Ro in Swimming Class

Since Jennifer liked her first experience swimming, we signed her up for a swimming class on Sunday mornings. She loved it and it was really funny seeing all of the babies in the pool with their fathers (mostly). I had a great time with her and have attached a photo that R took.

J.

We've Been Home for One Month

As everyone can see from our poor record of posting blog entries since we came home with Jennifer Rose, we're realizing that it's hard to stay up on the blog postings when we have such a demanding customer in J Ro and also when we're having so much fun just being with her. But we woke up this morning (R's birthday!) and R suggested that we go ahead and update the blog. So, here's a quick recap of what we've been up to in the last month:

• J went back to work the Monday after we got back (made for a very tired week of work!)
• Ellen (our wonderful nanny) started and she has been terrific
• R is home from work until mid-October which has been wonderful but we are both realizing that being home with the baby is a LOT of work in addition to being fun -- we are convinced that J has the easier job during the day!


• We got the house more baby-friendly, including a play area near the kitchen with two baskets of toys!


• We taught J Ro how to eat solid foods and she now enjoys it (although she still complains when R tries to clean her face and hands)!


• We spent the Labor Day long weekend at Rehoboth Beach, DE and had a wonderful time with J Ro -- she enjoyed her first trip to the swimming pool and she loved it. We found out that she and also liked eating soft serve ice cream and that serving her this right before bedtime is not a good way to get her to go to sleep.


• J Ro got to meet her Grandma Theda and Grandpa Oscar -- see photo of Theda reading to J Ro. It was so incredible to have Grandma Theda and Grandpa Oscar finally meet Jennifer Rose. She was so happy to be with them and it was an instant bond for them as well. Oscar took a lot of photos and video and I'll post them to the blog as soon as he sends them to me. Lately, if I'm not careful I'll completely forget to take photos myself since I'm just enjoying playing with Jennifer.


• J Ro has also enjoyed playing with her counsins and with friends who have stopped by to meet her. She continues to be the joy of our lives and we can't imagine life without her.

Ok - so that's the quick update. I have also posted a few photos from our trip to the beach when she went swimming in the hotel pool (thanks to Auntie Elana for the very pineapple cute bathing suit!). Hopefully more later.

J.